Man U vs West Ham
Venue: Old Trafford
Kick off: 4pm
Manchester United begin their 2017-18 Premier League campaign with a home match against West Ham United, aiming to push on from what can be considered a positive season overall last time out.
While silverware was added to the trophy cabinet with success in the EFL Cup and Europa League, boss Jose Mourinho knows that far more will be required in the top flight in his second term at the helm.
After sacrificing the Premier League to focus on the Europa League with a couple of months of 2016-17 left to play, Mourinho was fully aware that anything other than victory over Ajax in the Stockholm final would have been seen as a disaster.
It has now been four years since the Red Devils finished in the top three of the Premier League, having previously gone 22 years without finishing outside those spots, and Mourinho will need to get far more out of his players to bridge the mammoth 24-point gap on champions Chelsea.
Mourinho will hope that the arrival of Lukaku alone will go a long way to doing just that, bringing in a player from Everton who has experience of scoring regularly at this level – another 25 last time out – and a player boasting an impressive chance conversion rate.
Meanwhile, West Ham manager Slaven Bilic seemed to be a dead man walking at the London Stadium, seen as the fall guy for his side’s occasional abysmal performances at their new taxpayer-funded ground in the capital.
Bilic survived the axe and actually guided the Hammers to a respectable 11th place finish, only missing out on a place in the top half by virtue of an inferior goal difference compared to West Bromwich Albion’s.
Bilic must now integrate his new players into a squad already boasting some quality names, including talented playmaker Manuel Lanzini who is about to commit his future to the club for the long term.
Man U Possible XI: De Gea, Valencia, Jones, Bailly, Darmian, Herrera, Matic, Pogba, Mkhitaryan, Lukaku, Martial.
West Ham Possible XI: Hart, Zabaleta, Reid, Ogbonna, Cresswell, Noble, Obiang, Antonio, Lanzini, Arnautovic, Hernandez.